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62 DECEMBER 2013

PUBLICATION OF AAWA-ASSOCIATION

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25523482

Iran dissidents 'killed in Iraq missile attack'

Bbc.co.uk, December 27, 2013

A rocket attack has killed three members of an Iranian opposition group in Iraq, the group and its parent organisation say. They say a number of people from the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) group were injured at Camp Liberty in Baghdad. Baghdad has in the past repeatedly denied attacking the group. MEK members fought with Iraq against Iran in the 1980s, but have since fallen out with the current Iraqi government. In an emailed message, the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the MEK's parent group, said dozens of missiles hit the camp on Thursday evening. It said two residents were killed and a third later died in hospital of his wounds. The US condemned the attack "in the strongest terms" and urged Iraq to better protect the camp. An Iranian-backed Shia militia, al-Mukhtar Army, said it had fired rockets at the camp, Reuters news agency reported. The camp is located in a former US military base, near Baghdad's airport. The Iraqi authorities have made no public comments on the report. However, one security official was quoted by the Associated Press as saying four rockets hit the camp, injuring two people. In September, the MEK accused Iraqi forces of attacking Camp Ashraf north -east of Baghdad and killing 52 of the group's members. In recent years, Baghdad has been trying to dismantle MEK camps and eject the group. Iran considers the MEK a terrorist group. The group was removed from the US state department's list of terrorist organisations last year.

Dozens of missiles hit Camp Liberty, the Iranian group claims

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Iranian dissidents say rockets hit their Baghdad camp, kill threeReuters.com, December 26, 2013 (Reuters) - A camp of Iranian dissidents in the Iraqi capital was hit by rockets on Thursday in an attack the group said killed three residents and seriously wounded several others. A Shi'ite militia claimed responsibility for the attack on the Mujahadin-e-Khalq (MEK) camp in western Baghdad, which has repeatedly been the target of mortar and rocket attacks in recent months. The group, which calls for the overthrow of Iran's clerical leaders and fought on Iraq's side during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, is no longer welcome in Iraq under the Shi'ite-led government that came to power after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. A Paris-based spokesman for the MEK, Shahin Gobadi, said three people had been killed when "Camp Liberty," located in a former U.S. military compound, was hit with dozens of missiles. Several of the wounded were in a critical condition, said Gobadi, adding that more than 50 had been reported injured. The group accused the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of being behind the attack in an attempt to win support from Iran's government ahead of elections next year. Iraqi authorities have repeatedly denied involvement in attacks on the group. In a rare claim of responsibility for attacks on the MEK, Wathiq al-Batat, commander of the al-Mukhtar Army militia, told Reuters his group had fired 20 Katyusha rockets and mortar rounds at the camp. "We've asked (the government) to expel them from the country many times, but they are still here," he said, accusing the group of communicating with Sunni and Shi'ite politicians he said were linked to al Qaeda. The U.S. State Department condemned the attack "in the strongest terms." In a statement, it urged the Iraqi government to take additional steps to secure the camp against further violence and "to find the perpetrators and hold them accountable for the attack." Al-Mukhtar Army is a relatively new Shi'ite militia, which has said it is supported and funded by Iran. Batat is a former leader of the more well-known Kata'ib Hezbollah militia. Shahriar Kia, another spokesman for MEK who lives in the camp he said houses about 3,000 Iranian dissidents, said two men were killed when a rocket fell near their caravan. "I saw two caravans set ablaze and black smoke billowing," he said. "We are still taking shelter inside the caravans out of fear of more shelling." Police sources confirmed the camp had been targeted by mortars and said four wounded Iranians had been transported to a hospital in western Baghdad. More than 50 people were killed at a separate MEK camp north of Baghdad in September. The attack drew condemnation from the United States and Britain. (Reporting by Suadad al-Salhy, Ahmed Rasheed and Kareem Raheem; Additional reporting by Peter Cooney in Washington; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by David Evans and Bill Trott)

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Its Time to Close the Camps

Commentarymagazine.com, December 16, 2013 By Michael Rubin The last quarter century has been a time of great change across the globe, much of which has been for the better. The number of electoral democracies has grown from 69 in 1989 to 118 today. Despite Russias resurgence, the instability wrought by the Arab Spring, and the dangers posed by rogue regimes, the world remains far freer now than at any point in history. How tragic it is, then, that so many tens of thousands remain effectively imprisoned in political concentration camps. North Korea, of course, is the worlds worst violator. According to the Guardian, the lefts flagship paper, up to 200,000 North Koreans remain imprisoned. CNN has detailed some of the ongoing horror in the six camps, and any report from the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea is worth reading. The Hermit Kingdom is not alone, though. For decades, China has also maintained a series of reeducation through labor [laojiao] camps. And while the Chinese government has recently promised to dismantle its network, actions ultimately speak louder than words. The United States might have little leverage over China and North Korea, but low-hanging fruit which could be resolved with American diplomatic pressure does exist. The Mujahedin al-Khalq (MKO) is correct to castigate those who believe that the Iranian government or its militia proxies should enjoy an open season on group members. Opposing massacres is not synonymous with support for the group, however; it may no longer be a U.S.-designated terror group, but remains just as much an authoritarian cult. And while MKO spokesmen may castigate the Iraqi government and the Iranian regime, the real victims of the MKO lay within the group itself. Camp Libertythe successor to Camp Ashrafexists as much if not more to keep MKO members insulated from the real world and under the control of MKO leader Maryam Rajavis commissars than as a means of protection for group members. Other camps exist in the Tindouf province of southwestern Algeria. Here, perhaps 40,000 residents of southern Morocco, Algeria, western Mali, and northern Mauritania languish in camps controlled by the once-Marxist Polisario Front, largely kept from returning home by the groups political commissars and the Algerian government. During a recent visit to Dakhla, in Western Sahara, I had the opportunity to speak to former members who described not only their own escape from the camps, but the attempts by others who were forcibly returned to the camps, where Polisario authorities punished them for the audacity of seeking to return home rather than languish in camps 22 years after the war between Morocco and Algeria ended. Simply put, Polisario realizes that if the camps close, the gravy train of international assistance would end and the Polisario would lose its raison dtre. The Polisario is not the only Cold War remnant stubbornly holding hostages. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia also engages in the practice, holding some prisoners for more than a decade. While some journalists parachute in and whitewash just what happens in FARC camps, it is hard to see cultural programming as anything other than an attempt at ideological re-education. The Obama administration came into office seemingly committed to prioritizing human rights, never mind the debates about how best to guarantee rights, freedom, and liberty. The State Department became a revolving door not only for journalists, but for human-rights advocates, most notably Human Rights Watchs Tom Malinowski and writer Samantha Power. Increasingly, however, it seems such figures are either window dressing for an administration so disinterested in human rights that it is willing to sanction political concentration and re-education camps or, worse yet, that these figures are so permeated by moral equivalency and skewed in their understanding of what universal human rights are that they are willing to normalize with the regimes, sponsors, and groups which engage in such practices. Concentration camps and slavery (discussed in a previous post) are two phenomena that simply should not exist in the 21st century. That they do is a sad testament to the reality of regimes like North Koreas, Chinas, Algerias, Venezuelas, and Cubas, and the choices which successive U.S. administrationsboth Democrat and Republicanhave made to not let such issues be stumbling blocks to engaging with the United States on other issues.

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U.S. to move 3000 terrorists to Romania (Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult)Frognews.bg, December 20, 2013 By Delyan Martov, Translation: Iran-Interlink Sofia, December 25 2013: According to the American TV channel NBC and other media reports, the MEK played its role in the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists. According to other data, the organization was also involved in the murder of Mojtaba Ahmadi, the IRGC cybersecurity service commander, as well as in a serious accident at the factory for U.S. to move 3000 terrorists to Romania As it became known from the Romanian Foreign Ministry employees dialogue in a social network WordPress http:// danamarca70.wordpress.com/2013/12/18/48875763/ Currently the U.S. and the Romanian government are negotiating the deployment about 3 thousand representatives of the terrorist organization Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) on the territory of Romania. It is assumed that in the case of the Romanian leadership consent members of the group will be compactly settled near the city of Craiova. According to Ioana Raiciu and Dana Marca, the Romanian Foreign Ministry employees http://ioraiciu.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/intalnire-kerrycorlatean-la-ministeriala-nato/ The U.S. State Secretary and the Romanian Foreign Minister discussed the issue of militants migration during the meeting in Brussels in early December. John Kerrys adviser Jonathan Weiner who deals with the problem of MEK migration is to arrive in Romania with the same purpose. I turned to the Romanian Foreign Ministry press service for confirmation of these data by phone using the telephone numbers listed on the ministrys website, but they refused to give any comments, saying this is a too sensitive issue. Indeed, the disclosure of the information about moving about 3 thousand terrorists to the country is sure to cause a violent public backlash against the government. At the same time, the information leak to the Internet possibly means that Romanian authorities are trying to test the waters before making official statements. So what sort of an organization the Mujahedin-e Khalq is? Mojahedin-e Khalq is an Iranian Islamist terrorist organization in exile, which advocates the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Since its inception in the mid 60s, this group has made numerous assassination attempts on the Iranian leadership, murdered the U.S. military personnel and civilians, supported the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 calling for the execution of embassy staff. In 1981 MEK members killed 70 Iranian officials including the prime minister, the president and the head of the judiciary. A decade later, they organized a coordinated attack on the Iranian embassies in 13 countries. During the Iran-Iraq War, 1980-88, the group fought against Iran on the side of Saddam Hussein. In total the organization killed more than 50 thousand people in different countries. In 1997, the U.S. State Department put the MEK into a list of terrorist organizations. And in 2002, the European Union did the same, but in 2009 the EU crossed it out of the list. And in 2012, the United States followed the example. At the same time, the organization is still considered a terrorist one in Iran and Iraq. One can hardly say that the MEK has completely abandoned the ideas of terror. According to the American TV channel NBC and other media reports, the MEK played its role in the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists. According to other data, the organization was also involved in the murder of Mojtaba Ahmadi, the IRGC cybersecurity service commander, as well as in a serious accident at the factory for the production of heavy water in Arak in autumn 2013. According to the American TV channel CNN, a terrorist organization has a strict military structure. The MEK headquarters is based in the so-called Ashraf refugee camp in Iraq. (link to video of CNN: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=wSm24lSrvNA)continues on page 7 ...

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Notes on the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK) and Americans in Paris

Christoperdickey.blogspot.co.uk, December 08, 2013 By Christoph Dickey although there has been extensive speculation that the actual intelligence was supplied to the MEK by the Israelis. Its ability to float information -- or disinformation -- about the regime's activities could complicate debate inside the the United States.

On Saturday, 7 December 2013, in an auditorium at the Bourse in Paris, France, Maryam Rajavi and the Mujahadeen -e-Khalq (MEK) held a meeting with several notable supporters including former New York Mayor and Republican Presidential Candidate Rudy Giuliani, former Vermont Governor To the extent the MEK claims credit for adding to the and Democratic Presidential pressure on the Iranian Candidate Howard Dean, government to negotiate it former attorney general in strengthens the hand of the George W. Bush adminithose inside Iran who want to stration Michael Mucasey, discredit the negotiators. and South African But its greatest disruptive Archbishop Desmond Tutu's ability at the moment may daughter Naomi Nontombi well be connected to the way Tutu. Over the years, dethe Iranian-backed spite it cult-like practices government of Iraq has and even when it was fortreated MEK members in mally labeled a terrorist various camps there. On organization, the organizaSeptember 1 this year, 52 of tion managed to acquire them were killed, allegedly by quite a list of high-profile exRudolph Giuliani and Maryam Rajavi - Photo by CSD special forces from the Iraqi dignitaries in the United Ministry of Interior, and States. seven (six of them women) are alleged to have been taken I went to cover the event because I think the group may wind hostage. up playing a role of one sort and another helping to Why the Iraqi government would do this, even with undermine American and European efforts to reach an prodding from the Iranians, is something of a mystery. One agreement with Iran to forestall and foreclose its nuclear obvious possibility would be revenge: the MEK sided with weapons capability. the mullahs to overthrow the shah, then attempted, and There are several ways the MEK might do this. failed, to take over the revolution; it subsequently blew up scores of top Iranian religious leaders, and after Saddam It was listed by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist Hussein invaded Iran it sided with his forces. More than 20 organization until last year for reasons outlined in years later, when the United States led the invasion of Iraq this Council on Foreign Relations Backgrounder. Despite to overthrow Saddam, the MEK still supported him. But official denials, it may yet try to use violence inside Iran to U.S. forces decided its members might be used in some undermine the talks, knowing full well that any terrorist way as a card in future negotiations with Iran and the more incidents will serve the hardliners in the regime and than 3,000 MEK members in Iraq were put in a camp, "exacerbate the contradictions," as leftist revolutionaries disarmed, and began an existence in legal, political and used to say. When Iranian scientists have been killed, diplomatic limbo. As the United States withdrew from Iraq suspicion often has fallen on the MEK, the Israelis, or both. in 2011, fears mounted that the government of Prime The MEK claims to have extensive intelligence resources on Minister Maliki would simply ship the Iranian MEK the ground in Iran and claims credit for the important members across the border to face the tender mercies of revelation in 2002 of the regime's secret nuclear program,

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the government in Tehran. That did not happen. Instead their camp at Ashraf was closed after a violent incursion by Iraqi forces and they were sent to Camp Liberty on the outskirts of Baghdad (although they are still referred to by the MEK as "Ashrafis," which is why in my tweets there were some references to killings at Camp Ashraf that were in fact at Camp Liberty). The United States and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees assured the Ashrafis that they would be resettled in other countries, but that process has been very slow and one of the few countries willing to accept them even temporarily for medical care has been Albania. The camp came under repeated mortar attacks, and then came the September 1 killings and abductions. Giuliani, Dean and others who worked to get the MEK "delisted" from the State Department's catalogue of foreign terrorist organizations were involved to some extent in the assurances given the MEK that they would be protected at Camp Liberty and relocated in a timely fashion. Giuliani argued yesterday that the issue of the Ashrafis and the nuclear negotiations should be linked, something the Obama administration is very unlikely to do. Dean claimed that failure to protect the Ashrafis dishonored the United States of America. Following are my live tweets from the meeting:

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continued from page 4 - US to move ...

You can see a straight column in blue and white uniform marching on a spacious area framed by the lion sculptures. According to Michael Ware, the author of the video, back in 2007 Camp Ashraf numbered about 4,000 fighters and was one of the best military bases in Iraq. The MEK has more than 2,000 tanks, artillery, armored personnel carriers and air defense means. The territory is a small town with shopping malls and hospitals, blooming gardens, monuments and fountains, which is totally unexpected in war-torn Iraq. Moreover the Iranian Mujahideen are considered to be involved in undermining the bus with Israeli tourists in the Bulgarian resort of Burgas in summer 2012. The Bulgarian secret services allegedly accused Lebanese Hezbollah but the group rejects all charges despite the fact that it took the responsibility for many terrorist attacks previously. The terms of an agreement are still unknown. However, the U.S. is likely to use all available means and methods of pressure and persuasion to make Traian Basescu take the right decision. It is obvious that the United States doesnt really care about the interests of Romania and its people as well as the security in the Balkans.

Link to the original report (Bulgarian): http://frognews.bg/news_63138/ SASHT_nastaniavat_3000_teroristi_v_Rumaniia_na_50_k

To see all tweets visit: http:// christopherdickey.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-mujahadeen-ekhalq-mek-and.html?spref=fb

Parade of Mojahedin-e Khalq - warriors

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Iraq: UN calls on Government to ensure safety of Iranian exiles after rockets hit campUn.org, December 27, 2013 The United Nations today called on the Iraqi Government to ensure maximum security for some 3,200 Iranian exiles in a camp near Baghdad airport after a rocket attack on the airport last night reportedly killed a number of residents and seriously wounded others. "This is another stark reminder of the increasing violence in Iraq, Secretary-General Ban Ki- moons Special Representative Nickolay Mladenov said, voicing deep concern at the attack, in which rockets fell on Camp Hurriya, which houses the exiles, many of them members of a group known as the Peoples Mojahedeen of Iran who have been in Iraq since the 1980s. Nickolay Mladenov, Special Representative of the The Government, in cooperation with the Camp Hurriya Secretary-General and Head of the UN Mission for leadership, needs to take immediate action to ensure that appropriate measures are put in place to maximise the security of the residents, he added, stressing that responsibility for protecting the camps residents falls on the Government under an agreement it signed with the UN in 2011. This latest incident must be fully investigated by the authorities and those responsible brought to justice." Both Mr. Mladenov and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urged the international community to urgently intensify efforts to find resettlement opportunities. This is the ultimate guarantee of the security and safety of Camp Hurriya residents," he said. Strongly condemning the rocket attack, UNHCR appealed to countries to act urgently on 1,400 cases from Camp Hurriya that have already been submitted for relocation. Since 2011, UNHCR, together with the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), has been trying to find relocation opportunities outside Iraq for all 3,200 residents of the camp, but so far, the international community has secured relocation to third countries of only 311 residents. The agency said three residents were reportedly killed in the attack and many more wounded, at least four of them seriously and rushed to hospitals by the Iraqi authorities. Camp Hurriya has already been hit on multiple occasions. Camp New Iraq (formerly Ashraf), where residents were previously staying, was also the target of an attack in the past. UNHCR has consistently deplored such unacceptable attacks. UNHCR remains deeply concerned for the safety of the residents of Camp Hurriya and is calling on the Government of Iraq to urgently scale up security measures in the camp to ensure the safety and security of its residents, the agency said in a statement. We are also urging the Government to launch a full scale independent investigation into all the incidents.